Managing Sensory Overload at Disney
Sensory overload is a major challenge for anyone who has challenges with regulating sensory input. When someone you love has difficulty expressing their needs and wants appropriately in familiar settings, going out in public can be very intimidating. If going to the grocery store is an adventure, planning to go to Disney may seem impossible. With planning and a little bit of magic, there are ways to make Disney accessible to all guests.
Please note that my suggestions are based on my experiences as a parent, as well as my training and experience as a teacher of students with special needs. I am not an occupational therapist. I fully acknowledge that not every idea will work for every individual. I am very open and eager to hear ideas that have worked for others.
Read more: Our Disney Disability Access Service (DAS) Experience
Tip 1: Start with what is already being used.
If your child or family member has (or once had) an individualized education plan (IEP), transitional individualized education plan (TIEP), or a Section 504 plan, start there and review what accommodations are listed as necessary in the classroom. Theme parks and schools have sensory overload and unpredictability in common. If there are accommodations that you know work in the school environment, try them at Disney. If the individual doesn’t have that information, some common accommodations that can be helpful are noise-cancelling or noise reduction headphones, earbuds (with a device providing preferred input), and sunglasses (to avoid bright lights).
Tip 2: Get creative.
If your child or family member is a younger human who gets easily overwhelmed, consider using a stroller that can work with mosquito netting or has high sides. These strollers can provide a bubble of peace, and an opportunity to reset and re-regulate without needing to navigate additional sensory input on the walk to the next thing. It can also be helpful for the human handling the other human. Everyone gets a little break.
Tip 3: Plan for success and prepare to be flexible.
If you do everything right (arrive at a good time with everyone well-fed, rested, and/or medicated), things can still go sideways. We know that there are certain rides at certain parks that, if they are closed, have the potential to cause a huge problem for Noah, given his need to organize the world into routines he can understand. We check before we arrive to make sure these rides are open.
If a ride is undergoing renovations or closed for any reason, we either warn Noah about it and talk through it like a social story, or we pick a different park and avoid it. We are very careful not to promise more than the generic Disney World so that Noah knows we are going but won’t be upset if we tell him Hollywood Studios but switch to Magic Kingdom. We also don’t tell him more than a few days in advance.
While it can be very challenging to navigate through Disney parks for individuals with sensory challenges, it is possible to make the experience more accessible. In my next article, I’ll provide additional tips that can also apply to individuals with medical needs.
